CS Source: de_arcticbase

    I like it, what bothers me is that it looks "too crowded" on details (not in a good way if u get what I mean). That's specially bad in a mod you have to be aware all the time.

    The snowy theme and the many lights give me a UT2003 feeling, I'm not sure how this fits into the Counter-Terrorism context but it looks beautiful nonetheless

    Hi Fruchtzwerg. The map you are talking about was eventually called de_afyon and was completed a while back but i never released it. When i did the final compile, i forgot to have all the models and sprites in proper folders. (models/afyon/mymodel.mdl) A compile took over 20 hours and i didnt know how to use ripents, add to the fact nobody really plays custom maps other than on your servers and a few others, i just didnt bother with a final.

    If your interested though, i could PM you a download link

    Welcome Skybex!

    Friechamp,thats a new one! Some people have said it reminds them of James Bond Nightfire nightfire as well. I have never played either of them. We need to CS Source it some more I think. Glad you like the look so far though.

    Quote

    I like it, what bothers me is that it looks "too crowded" on details (not in a good way if u get what I mean). That's specially bad in a mod you have to be aware all the time.

    This is exactly what I was thinking. The exterior looks to cluttered with details which could totally effect gameplay, especially for cs.

    Are you kidding me people? in no way is this map busy. There is plenty of depth yes, but not in a way that would clutter the map. Most of the hallways are littered with (shudder) crates. How uncluttered can you get without putting nothing in there? The first pic is the only one that I can see being cluttered, and that is in player's non-accessible areas. I'd have to play the map to criticize the gameplay, but in the artic, regular cars probably wouldn't work very well? Trees wouldn't grow? Giant open doors wouldn't be there for maintaining heat? Some things to consider if you dont change the level's name.

    Quote from von*ferret

    Are you kidding me people? in no way is this map busy. There is plenty of depth yes, but not in a way that would clutter the map. Most of the hallways are littered with (shudder) crates. How uncluttered can you get without putting nothing in there? The first pic is the only one that I can see being cluttered, and that is in player's non-accessible areas. I'd have to play the map to criticize the gameplay, but in the artic, regular cars probably wouldn't work very well? Trees wouldn't grow? Giant open doors wouldn't be there for maintaining heat? Some things to consider if you dont change the level's name.

    i agree with Ferret. I wanted to write somthin about that clutter in the skybox but i thought i was crazy. It seems to be a trend to put as much stuff in there to make it look like the horizon goes on forever, just an easy way to make ur map look detailed and impressive. I just dont like that kinda useless cluttering in the skybox. The actual map doesnt look cluttered to me at all, just a bit squarish and i notice again some cool areas which are unaccessable for the player. The outside area looks cool but i have a feeling those buildings and stuff on the second story is all just eyecandy. I hate that, its so cheap

    I remember playing de_morningstar long time ago and the 3 coolest rooms, a cinema, swimming pool and outside area were all unaccessable :mad:

    Its not "cheap" to put in inaccessible areas, its a necessity. If you let people get up to those higher areas for example, then you would need to put in surrounding areas since the player can now see over and beyond the current high points. Would you then complain that those areas are inaccessible?

    Quote from ReNo

    Its not "cheap" to put in inaccessible areas, its a necessity. If you let people get up to those higher areas for example, then you would need to put in surrounding areas since the player can now see over and beyond the current high points.

    No they cant. If u walk into into a doorway of house, u cant see over the house can u? There are plenty of tricks to make it possible. Anyway my point was that in many maps the most interesting areas are the ones which are unreachable. It seems ppl can be very creative with filling up the background, becaus they dont have to bother with ppl walking around it, entering it or climbing on top.

    One of the things i think makes a good map is giving players as much freedom as possible to move around , so they can use most of the space of ur map instead of just watching at it. Instead of putting great buildings in the background just for eyecandy, let them climb onto a balcony for an rpg or somthing. If ur map is high, let ppl go up.

    This is just a point of optimization. In no way should a designer NOT think about the outside areas. Its a nescessity. The horizon takes often 2/3rs of the screen. So attention placed in there is nescary. However its most important to focus on the accessible areas because thats what the player gets closest too. So its a balance between the two. Everything has to be considered to get the proper effect.

    I get a kick out of mods that spend thousands of polygons on their gun models, and then have none to spare for their environments. So they have super detailed characters and boring as all hell environments. Its the same idea. For this map maybe you could possibly take away detail from the exterior and place it in the inside, I dont know. I dont know how you made it or how much resources are being spent on the exterior. However RD's point that often the coolest areas are inaccessible is a very valid point. This of course is a fubar idea and should be destroyed immediately!!!!! Cool areas should be the gameplay, not gameplay surround the cool ideas. Something I often saw in Natural Selection maps where there were endless halls and corridors often looking at cool things, but in the end, you're playing in an endless hall.

    So in the end of my shpleal it comes down to focusing on whats important to the players, and balancing the distribution of polygons.

    Thanks for the welcome guys

    I was going to post a reply about your comments but dont have time, so i will leave it for Baboon tomorrow

    Reno - Been watching Naruto recently as well, but there are so many episodes

    Stick with it, Naruto can be a bit long winded at times but the amount of cool characters makes up for it If you haven't, check out Full Metal Alchemist too, which is probably the best out of the three.

    Nwot wrong with cool looking inacessible areas, as long there seems to be a valid reason for them being like that. The annoying thing about morningstar is that the pool room is so annoyingly close. It looks like you should be able to get in there, but you just bloody well can't. I'm trying to think of a good example to the contrary, but my brain fails me at present.

    von*ferret - You sound like an anti-crateite! I personally don't mind crates, but whenever something else can be used it will be. When talking about the busy stuff, I thought Minotauro and hamst3r were talking about the outside. The inside does look a bit bare, and lacks interesting lighting/props and detail on the textures. They look too clean for the type of thing we are going for as well. Good thing is, these areas are nowhere near final.

    As for the name of the map, this will probably change. We just did not want to show images of a map and call it de_snow, de_freeze or something. Finding a name is hard work! Name will come about as the map develops I hope.


    Still, the cars, trees and other stuff looking a bit strange in an arctic type place is not that strange. I think the reason for people thinking this might have something to do with the typical idea of what the arctic looks like. For example

    http://www.newnorth.ca/Pictures/pictures.html

    Here are many images of the arctic, yet thay are very different to what would probably instantly come to mind when the word arctic is mentioned. In fact, a few of those pics look as though they are from another planet! Agree with you about the giant open doors though. Maybe parts of the doors should be seen at the top of the frames to give the impression that everything can be closed to conserve heat etc.

    Also agree that the actual playable area itself needs to look interesting. Will work on this.

    RD - I suppose the clutter in the skybox and rest of the area is a matter of personal preference. I would not criticise de_morningstar for having brilliant eye candy sections. For me, these sections make me feel as though I am running around in a more believable environment. The outside street area and the swimming pool all add to the belivability and immersion. Without those bits, the map would lose some of its charm and realism. Same as de_prodigy, de_inferno, de_tides, in source. Lots of inaccesible areas, but for my taste, they add to the map. Ultimately, I think that eye candy sections are most interesting, simply because they are eye candy sections.

    Certainly agree with your point about freedom in maps. Karachi on 1. 6 had areas that could easily be detail, but were made into playable areas. This made the map one of the best ever!

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